Bestselling Adelaide novelist JAMES HOUSTON TURNER captures coveted top award in the 2011 Best Books Awards, where his "Ludlumesque" thriller, Department Thirteen (Comfort Publishing), wins the Hottest New Thriller.

Department Thirteen Author James Houston Turner

PRLog - Nov. 6, 2011 - CONCORD, N.C. -- LOS ANGELES -- Covering new releases from authors like Tom Clancy and Dean Koontz, USA Book News has just awarded Australian novelist JAMES HOUSTON TURNER first place in the Fiction: Thriller/Adventure category for his "Ludlumesque" novel, Department Thirteen, which chronicles a week in the life of former KGB informant Aleksandr Talanov, who becomes the target of assassins from his past. Set in Los Angeles, Australia, Vanuatu, and Switzerland, Department Thirteen was inspired by Turner's years as a smuggler behind the old Iron Curtain, as well as the actual KGB informant in Moscow who leaked word to him back in the eighties that he was on a KGB watchlist because of his activities.

News of the award reached Turner in Philadelphia, where he was promoting both Department Thirteen and his acclaimed international thriller, The Identity Factor. "If I could have done cartwheels without landing myself in the hospital, I would have," he says. "The award is a sweet victory for the many years of writing it's taken me to get to this point."

Turner also credits the sponsorship and support of Qantas Airways, Jacob's Creek wine, King Island Dairy, and Chopin vodka for helping him achieve this award. "Qantas and Jacob's Creek have been partners with me for more than ten years, so I'm happy to acknowledge their role in helping me go the distance to win this award," he explains, finishing his remarks of appreciation by noting what a great job Comfort Publishing did with his book. "They did an awesome job from production to promotion. Publishing a book is truly a team effort and we all worked overtime to make it happen." The novel hit the bestseller list when he was in Texas.

The author has a series of novels planned for Department Thirteen's hero, Aleksandr Talanov, who has been described as "Bond meets Bourne" by tour sponsor, Chopin vodka. The next Talanov thriller, also to be published by Comfort Publishing, is slated for a September 2012 release. "It takes Talanov in a completely new direction," he reveals. "My goal with each book is to tumble readers in surprising and fresh new directions that keep them guessing until the very end."

Turner also wrote and produced a two-minute trailer that can be seen at http://www.talanov.info. "We took over a pub one Saturday morning in Adelaide and spent three hours in a photo shoot with model Rachel Rouse, ultramarathoner Jon Whelan, and photographers 'Flash!' and 'Bong'. My objective was to produce a trailer that captured the tempo of the book, but my shoestring budget meant we had to pay participants, who are all good mates, with gourmet meals fixed in our home. They worked like troopers and the results were impressive. I honestly could not have accomplished this without the love and support of these mates."

The author devotes much of his public platform as a published author to speaking in schools about the hard knocks of life. He even called his tour the "Too Ugly Tour," in dedication to the moment when he was refused a customer service job because he was too ugly, referring to the facial scars he carries from his successful 1991 battle against cancer, where a tumor the size of his fist was removed from his face. "At the time, it was a kick in the guts," he tells students, "but it was also a blessing in disguise, for if I had been hired, I probably would not be standing before you today as a published author. Sometimes, the hard knocks of life are blessings in disguise."